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BLEED
WHAT IS BLEED AND WHY IS IT REQUIRED?
When graphics continue to the edge of a sheet of paper bleed is required. This is because a commercial printing press cannot print to the edge of a sheet of paper. Instead multiple products are printed on much larger sheets of paper and then cut down to size. Because it is impossible to cut exactly to the edge of your design a little over print on each side is required. This overprint is called “bleed”. Any document that is being professionally printed will require a bleed area and a safe zone providing the print runs to the edge of the document. The diagram opposite shows a correctly lined up business card with 3mm of bleed and crop marks. The crop marks show the line that the guillotines must cut to. The bleed is the area outside of these marks.
Please note we do not necessarily require you to put crop marks on you design.
HOW MUCH BLEED DO I NEED?
The industry standard is to have 3mm of bleed on each edge and a 5mm safe zone inside. This means that the length of each side will be 8mm longer. For example an A4 sheet when lined up correctly with bleed will be 218mm x 305mm. It will then be cut down to its finished size of 210mm x 297mm.
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